In order to meet the demands of the growing electronics industry, semiconductor manufacturers are faced with many challenges in supplying suitable semiconductor devices. One challenge is to provide customers with very small, yet powerful, devices. However, this challenge is not easily met. Small devices are desirable because small devices require less mounting space on a substrate and have fewer problems with signal transmissions as compared to larger devices. At the same time, powerful devices are necessary in order to store and transmit a maximum amount of imformation. Yet as the power and performance of a device increases, the size of the device also increases. Much of this increase is due to a larger number of terminals, or leads, required to operate the device.
Keeping the size of a semiconductor device to a minimum is often achieved by using thin, fragile, densely spaced leads as electrical contacts to the device. However, the use of such leads creates a variety of manufacturing and handling problems. Handling devices with such fragile leads can result in bent and non-coplanar leads, making it difficult to properly mount the device to a substrate, such as a PC (printed circuit) board. Manufacturing devices with such closely spaced leads is itself difficult. Leadframes used in molded packages have a piece of metal, known as a dambar, to act as a dam for molding material. The dambar must be cut out from between the leads prior to using the device, usually by a punching operation. Closely spaced leads can be damaged by the punching operation. Furthermore, the small dimensions of a punching tool used for removing dambars from between fine leads make the punching tool susceptible to damage as well.
Although much of the effort devoted to reducing package size has concentrated on reducing the package width and length, it is also desirable for semiconductor devices to be thin, especially in consumer electronics applications. Therefore, a need exists for an improved semiconductor device, and more specifically for an improved semiconductor device which is leadless and has a thin package profile.